1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to systems and methods for marketing lottery games through a game selection device, where the device is not necessarily in communication with a lottery sales device or a central lottery system computer.
2. Description of Related Art
A large number of states in the United States, as well as several foreign countries, have government-run lotteries. A form of legalized gambling, these lotteries are almost all very similar in the format of a main lottery game often known as “lotto”. These games are usually based upon a combination of numbers selected by a player from a predetermined number range, which, in combination with the amount of numbers selected for a particular game, establish the desired odds for that game. The player may indicate his or her number selections by filling out corresponding spaces on a play slip, such as the prior art play slip depicted in FIG. 1. The number selections of the play slip are then read by a lottery sales device operated by a clerk. Numbers may also be randomly selected by a lottery sales device, in what is known as a “quick pick” or entered by the clerk through a keyboard attached to a lottery sales device. A subsequent state lottery drawing determines the winning numbers for that particular game. Such drawing games may occur weekly or more frequently. Because these types of “lotto” games are played through a lottery sales device in online communication with a central lottery system via a network, these game types are referred to as “online” games.
In the typical lottery jurisdiction, a large central lottery system computer is linked by telephone line and modem with all retail lottery sales devices in the system. The lottery jurisdiction usually leases or purchases the lottery sales devices and other requisite hardware and places a telephone line into each participating store. The retailer is sometimes charged a fee for installation and a periodic service charge. Serialized paper stock is typically provided by the lottery system to each participating store. In the typical system, all lottery numbers, whether selected by the player or quick picks, are transmitted to the lottery system computer at the time of purchase. A serial number is assigned and printed on each lottery ticket, which is used to uniquely identify all plays on the particular lottery ticket. One method is to use the serial number as a pointer to an electronic record of each transaction kept on the central lottery system computer, wherein each record includes the serial number, the selected numbers, the retailer, etc. This record is maintained for the duration of the game being played, with all “winners” maintained in the central computer for redemption at a later date. In current lottery systems, a ticket printer forms a part of a self-standing lottery sales device, which also includes a keyboard, a display, an optical reader, and a modem. The terminal's ticket printer typically prints a bar code that is used by the optical reader of the dedicated lottery sales device to represent a serial number or look-up number as discussed above, for the numbers selected for a particular game.
The great bulk of lottery ticket sales have in the past been generated by convenience stores or small grocery stores having only a single checkout line. Few supermarkets have more than one lottery sales device due to the problem of outfitting every checkout line with a separate lottery sales device. Additionally, the checkout clerk of each checkout line would be required to be trained in and perform an additional function separate from the normal sale of store inventory items. Furthermore, by integrating the entire lottery transaction into each checkout line, the checkout procedure would be slowed, thereby annoying other customers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,165 to Novak (hereinafter “the Novak patent”) discloses a bar code lottery ticket handling system which attempts to overcome the aforementioned problems by having the player select lottery numbers at a pick stand situated remotely from the lottery sales device. The pick stand issues a play slip that may then be taken by the player to any non-lottery POS (point-of-sale) terminal to be read and thereafter to have a lottery ticket printed for the player. Specifically, the Novak patent discloses a system in which lottery transactions may be integrated into checkout lines by having a proprietary device installed between a standard bar code scanner and the POS terminal, so that a play slip bar code may be distinguished from any store-inventory bar coded items, and processed accordingly.
However, the system disclosed in the Novak patent suffers from numerous problems, such as requiring the retrofitting of existing POS systems to accommodate the proprietary device. Thus, installation of such a system would entail costly mechanical and electrical modifications. Additionally, new communication links need to be established from the physical location of the proprietary device of each checkout line to a modem that is configured to transmit lottery information to the central lottery system computer. Thus, additional time and money is required to install the requisite communication cables and routing equipment. Another drawback to utilizing the system of the Novak patent involves the limitations of the game selection device, or the pick slip stand, as described in the Novak patent. Specifically, the pick slip stand is limited in the type of games that may be selected therefrom and thereafter expressed on the play slip. Thus, the pick slip stand only offers traditional lottery drawing games and, therefore, is quite limited in the playability and amusement value of lottery games offered to players. One having ordinary skill in the art would understand that traditional lottery drawing games refer to games including, but not limited to, games having a single pool or multiple pools of numbers from which either a set or series of numbers are drawn. Yet another drawback to such a system arises from the requisite interaction of the proprietary device installed between a standard bar code scanner and the POS terminal. Namely, such a system cannot be installed outside of supermarket environments, such as entertainment venues and non-retail locales that do not have the requisite existing POS systems.
Essentially, the system of the Novak patent requires a replication of the hardware inherent in an ordinary standalone lottery sales device into a POS system. The pick stand assumes the role of the checkout clerk traditionally responsible for entering the games to be played into the standalone lottery sales device. The utility of such a system is only appreciated after taking into account the costs of implementation of such a system. It is evident that the system of the Novak patent is not prevalent in supermarkets and the like because the benefits received by implementing such a system do not outweigh the associated costs and burdens, as outlined above.
With the increase in the number of lottery games and corresponding play options available, lottery sales transactions are becoming more complicated transactions that require multiple selections for each wager. Common examples include, but are not limited to, game type, numbers played, wager type, amount wagered, and drawing date. It is estimated that 30%-60% of players purchase more than one game at a time. In many cases, players speak their selections, which require sales clerks to key the selections manually into the lottery sales device. In such cases, the game types selected are limited by the ability of the clerk to process a wide variety of play options with sufficient speed to satisfy lottery transaction throughput requirement. For any play slip entry process, the game type is limited by not only the variety of play slips that can be realistically displayed to offer all game options, but also by the limitations inherent in the range of numbers or symbols that an be printed on the play slip.
Thus, there remains a need for a system and method for marketing lottery games in an expedited fashion while minimizing the amount of additional hardware/software and modification thereof that is necessary to implement such a system. Additionally, there is a need for providing a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional game types from which a player may select, wherein such game selection is facilitated outside the presence of a clerk, especially in diverse establishments and venues or perhaps even at home.